it's raining, it's pouring

So, we found out yesterday what happens when it rains. A lot. It all comes into the garage. From there it enters the basement. I'm not sure I would have even gone down to check if a friend hadn't told me at the bus stop that another neighbor's house was flooding. Genius' that we are, we had the plastic tubs sitting up high off the ground while the cardboard boxes of books and CD's were sitting on the floor. Well, yesterday they were sitting in 3 inches of water. My poor husband was in a meeting when I called him and launched into full panic attack mode because I was standing in water and completely overwhelmed by what was happening. Have I mentioned that the volume on his phone is typically loud? Add to that my half yelling/half sobbing voice and at least two of his co-workers got to experience me in all my crazy glory.

The good part? I was reminded once again how thankful I am for our amazing neighbors. Janet sent her daughter down the street right away to watch the kids. She also dropped off cookies and plastic tubs for us in the evening. My friend Caroline showed up with another neighbor (whom I had never even met) bearing a sump pump which he got going while she started helping me with the boxes. She even had us over for dinner after that.

The pump ran all night and the water was finally out this morning. Joel stayed home so we could sort piles for trash, recycling, and things to hopefully be salvaged. We are so tired. At least when this is over we'll finally have a clean garage!


This was the worst of it - right after I found it and the rain was still pouring down.


If you look closely, you can see water coming out of the corner of the top right box.


Wet boxes in the basement.


I find it somewhat ironic that the kids swimming pool was sitting in the middle of all the water.


The lovely decorations we now have adorning our living room. Who needs carpet when you can walk on books? This isn't even all the books we're trying to dry - we ran out of room in here.